forevermore
by czqy
Summary: after the war. lance and keith are together. they stargaze.


**A/N:** this was written the day before s8 (a better time) and originally posted to tumblr, but i thought i'd put it here too

enjoy

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"Remember all those competitions we used to have?"

Lance gazes up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle. A cool breeze passes by, but Lance doesn't really feel it. Because Keith is beside him, leaning against the space between Red's eyes, and when they're together, this flame burns inside him, warming his entire being. He doesn't remember whose idea this was—to come out and spend the night outside. He thinks maybe Red was calling for both of them. When they saw her, she'd already lowered her head to the ground, waiting for them to climb on. They had watched the sun set, and now Lance guesses he's feeling sentimental.

"Yeah," Keith replies a second later. "There were so many. Sparring, piloting, taking down enemies. There was even that one time we competed over who could complete the most tasks for Coran. He made us do some _weird_ things. But do you remember how I won most of the competitions?"

"No way! There is no way you beat me at all of those. As I recall, we drew for a lot of them. There was no clear winner. Except for the Coran one. You pulled out, because you didn't want to clean that creature. I did." Lance doesn't really know if he counts it as a win, though. Coran didn't tell him the creature would be _slimy_. He ended up having to clean _himself_ for days afterwards.

"And it was gross. I have no regrets."

Lance doesn't reply, and lets a comfortable silence fall between them. Things have been mostly quiet for some time now. The final battle had been a gruelling one, Honerva's magic was powerful, the weapons she created were just as strong, but they were able to overcome them. He thinks about Allura, then. He wonders how she's doing up in space, if she's been able to find some solace from everything with the Alteans she's now leading. He enjoyed their time together, but he knew it would never last. Allura's place was always up there, and his was always on Earth. After a while, he sits up too, and takes his place next to Keith.

"We were so young, then. We knew nothing before we went into space."

Keith hums in agreeance. "I think, though, even with all the hardships, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else in the universe."

"Neither. I mean, I piloted _two_ giant lion warships; I got to use a laser rifle, a sniper rifle, _and_ an Altean broadsword. That's pretty cool if you ask me. I never got to pilot Black though." Lance doesn't mean it as anything but a passing comment, however Keith tenses.

"I would've traded with you, if I could." Lance turns his head to look at Keith, eyes softening. He knows it was hard for him. He didn't want it. But Lance thinks everything turned out okay.

"I don't know. It's a lot of pressure being a leader. Besides, I enjoyed being your right hand man." He smiles.

"You were my stability, Lance." Lance's eyes widen, and Keith faces him. His eyes tell him there is no lie behind his words. It still shocks him though, he finds it hard to believe. He hardly thinks he did much. He simply told Keith what he thought he should do, and he did it. "Come on, don't tell me you're surprised. I thought it was super obvious. If I ever got angry or frustrated, all you had to do was say one word, and I'd calm down."

Lance thinks about it, and realises Keith is right. It's a crazy fact. "Look, maybe I was just in denial. I mean, the fact that _this_ ," he gestures between them, "is a thing still baffles me."

Keith rolls his eyes, then places an arm around Lance's shoulder to bring him close. Lance lets his head rest against Keith's.

"Don't sell yourself short. You're plenty amazing. If anything, it should be me who has trouble believing it." A moment passes, and Lance tries to think of something to say, but Keith speaks again. "I used to think about it, the possibilities of us becoming a thing. When I was with the Marmora, I'd sneak out sometimes to look at the stars. And then I'd wonder if they'd align for us."

Tears prick at the corners of Lance's eyes; he doesn't know why he's suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. He buries his face in the nook of Keith's shoulder, and lets the tears fall freely. He hears Keith chuckle, and then he feels a hand on his back.

"Don't cry. We're here now, aren't we?"

Lance pulls back, and wipes his eyes. He glares at Keith. " _You_ made me cry! You can't just say stuff like that! Who knew that our wild Keith over here was actually a romantic!"

"Oh, you don't even know." Keith gets this look, one that's suspicious, and Lance narrows his eyes at this.

"What are you planning?"

"I can't tell you."

"Come on!"

"Nope." Keith turns his head away from Lance. Lance pouts, then leans so he's back in Keith's line of vision.

"Please," he whines.

Keith watches him for a moment, then pecks his lips. "Nope."

Lance sits back and crosses his arms. Keith laughs again, then unravels Lance's arms so he can hold his hand and interlace their fingers.

"You'll see soon enough."

It's clear that Keith isn't going to reveal anything, so Lance relents. They go back to watching the stars.

"Oh, you can see the base of the statue from here." Keith points into the distance, and surely enough, there's a shine of metal. It's still surreal, the fact they're going to be on a monument. It's going to be weird to see another him. A much, much, larger him. God, his family is going to be so embarrassing about it.

"We're going to be immortalised," he says.

"I think that'd be the case even if there wasn't a statue," Keith looks at Lance again, and when they make eye contact, Lance is breathless for a moment. He stares into almost-violet eyes, and he can see the stars reflected them. It's beautiful. Keith stares back, and Lance wonders what he sees, if there are a sea of stars swimming in his eyes too.

"Really?" Lance's voice comes out as barely a whisper.

"Yeah," Keith leans close, hovering before Lance's lips, "didn't you know? We're forevermore."

And Lance lets their lips meet.

* * *

 **A/N:** yeah. i really really miss them.

i also wrote something after s8, which is much longer and a bit more canon compliant (plenty of fixing still occurs tho, dw), it's titled 'and finally, the stars have aligned', check that out if you're interested

but yeah. thanks for reading, i hope you liked it, have a great day :)


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